Thirty five students representing local, state, tribal and federal agencies as well as industry partners participated in the class. Students learned about the varied chemical properties of different oil types, transport of oil, impacts of oil to habitats and wildlife, the environmental trade-offs to consider when responding to oil spills, and many other things during this five-day class.

Special topics for this week included presentations on additional human and environmental impacts of oil spills. We looked specifically at the impact of oil on Orca and other marine mammals, as well as chemical and sensory analysis methods to assess the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in organic tissues, particularly seafood.